Paradigm shift needed for economic revival and poverty eradication
By J. A. A. S Ranasinghe-May 13, 2020, 11:18 pmProductivity Specialist and Management Consultant
(athularanasinghe88@yahoo.com)
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has taken timely action to appoint a high-powered committee of a Presidential Task Force (PTF), numbering over 30 generalists, to steer economic revival and eradicate poverty, following the threats and opportunities that emerged, consequent to the COVID-19 epidemic. Economic revival and poverty eradication deserve high priority in this calamitous situation and no stone should be left unturned in our efforts to accomplish this onerous tasks entrusted to the PTF.
It is still not clear how the PTF is organizationally structured to handle this seeminlgy insurmountable task in the absence of identified rational and pragmatic projects, with a committee of 30 generalists representing vital sectors of the economy. When a committee comprising a large number is appointed, what generally happens is that it leads to confusions, quot homines tot sententiae, literally meaning, many officials with so many opinions and counter arguments. It is earnestly hoped that the above PTF will not face this problem.
The ideal approach is to request each of the respective generalists, representing vital sectors, to come up with a strategic proposal as to how he intends to address economic development aspects of his own territory, targeting economic revival and poverty alleviation. That is the bottomline. Once the strategic proposals are analyzed and accepted, the head of the PTF could monitor the progress by giving political leadership. The bureaucratic bungling and corrupt practices have seeped into the innards of the public service and are the very reasons economic revival and poverty eradication have taken a backseat in our country for the last seven decades. Hence, the Head of the PTF has the Herculean task of monitoring the progress of the projects articulated by the sector generalists, by eliminating bottlenecks in the implementation process. A workshop with the participation of all the relevant stakeholders on a particular project identified, would be immensely useful for the sector generalists to emulate the techniques to be adopted and identify evaluation indicators in respect of each strategy.
It is essential that the Task Force gets the relevant institutions to implement appropriate projects or programmes to increase our exports and reduce our imports. One of the factors responsible for the current economic crisis in the country is the increasing trade deficit (TD). Persistent trade deficit has a significant negative impact on the economy of the country and exacerbates the problems the people are forced to face. It is essential that the government implements appropriate strategies to narrow the trade deficit by increasing exports, and accelerates substitute crops and products locally. This will invariably reduce the outflow of foreign exchange from the country and generate more income for local producers, especially the farmers who are grappling with poverty due to loss of income. Production and hence the income from the major plantation crops, which substantially contribute to our exports, has not increased by any substantial amount during the last few years. The flip-side of the coin is that local farmers and SMEs have been backed into a corner and their trades must be given prime recognition by way of value addition in this development drive.
Reducing imports should be included in the project goals, as a strategy. Our imports have increased appreciably from US $ 18,000 million in 2013 to around US $ 22,000 million in 2018. Based on Central Bank reports, expenditure on food and beverages in 2013 was US$ 1.4 billion, and this has increased to nearly US$ 1.9 billion in 2018. Expenditure in 2019 on food imports is likely to be even more due to the depreciation of the SL rupee and drought. Thus, food imports contribute to a significant part of the import bill. Hence, action needs to be taken by relevant institutions to increase local production of food so that we could save a substantial amount of foreign exchange. Most of the food imported such as sugar, milk food, lentils, onion and maize, at a cost of US$ 1.9 billion, can be locally produced, thereby reducing expenditure on food imports. It is the duty of the PTF to get the relevant institutions to identify how they propose to reduce our food imports by getting these crops cultivated locally.
Implementation mechanism
It is of paramount importance for PTF to establish an independent monitoring mechanism under its wing, to constantly monitor and evaluate progress of the respective proposals and report to the Head of the PTF regularly. There may be unseen forces, with ulterior motives, that would impede the progress and smooth functioning of the projects. The President has said in no uncertain terms that sabotage would not be tolerated in the implementation of this national exercise. On the other hand, if the required assistance and support would not be forthcoming from other sectors due to parochial attitudes and inefficient administrative systems, such circumstances will have to be closely monitored. This is where the involvement of the Head of the PTF is imminently important. Saboteurs who obstruct project implementation must be kicked out whilst eliminating administrative bottlenecks that impede the growth. If these sacrosanct guidelines are followed, it will not be rocket science to achieve results of the respective projects, within the stipulated time period.
Action plan for tuberous crops
Let us take a practical approach as to how we should design a strategic plan for tuberous crops such as cassava (manioc), sweet potato, potatoes, Galaha, Innala, Kiriala, Kohila, Hingurala, Hulankeeriya, Kidaram, Udala that come under the purview of the Department of Agriculture. I believe the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture is a member of the PTF, and he should instruct the Director General of Agriculture to design a programme for the propagation of tuberous crops, which played a key role in the dietary habits of our early human population before the evolution of settled agriculture. Tuberous crops have been neglected over the years with the advent of new vegetable crops such as carrots, leaks, cabbage, beans and beetroots, and the majority of the farmers are reported to have gradually distanced themselves from tuberous crop cultivation, as it was not economical to depend on tuberous crops on a commercial scale. As a result of less remunerative market prices for tuberous crops backed by low demand, the poverty level of the farmers who grow tuberous crops has increased considerably over the years. There has been hardly any innovative research and development in this area for propagation, value addition, post-harvest techniques, and packaging, and it is this category of farmers, in our rural setting, who have been badly battered and caught in the vicious cycle of poverty.
The Director General should be asked to draw up a national plan for tuberous crops, having identified constraints in respect of Plant Science, agronomy, extension, post-harvesting and packaging and value addition issues for each tuberous crop and strategic proposals to overcome such constraints. The responsibility of overcoming such constraints and achieving production targets should be delegated to his deputies in the provinces or districts. It is their prerogative to ensure that respective milestones are achieved with the close support of the farmers, by providing planting materials, extension facilities, agronomy inputs, post-harvest and value addition technique support.
Post-harvest inputs
Post-harvest losses occur between harvest and the moment of human consumption. In view of the post-harvest losses, development and application of post-harvest technologies is a strategic issue for the development of tuberous crops. They include on-farm losses, such as when grain is threshed, winnowed, and dried, as well as losses along the supply chain during transportation, storage, and processing. Substantial post-harvest losses are reported to be taking place causing wanton damage to the farmers who need support by way of handling treatments, bulk-packaging techniques of dried or frozen crops, adaptation of solar and wind power cold rooms, dryers and dehydration technology. It will be the responsibility of the PTF to provide these logistical facilities at the province and district level in order to minimize wastage. Setting up of storage facilities is sine-qua-non not only to reduce wastage but also to avoid price fluctuations. The strategic action plan articulated by the DG of the Agriculture should identify the post-harvest techniques he employs in respect of each tuberous crop. The whole purpose of this exercise is to enhance the production capability of the farmer community and livelihood income, thereby reducing his poverty level as envisaged by the President. Increasing national production of tuberous crops would enable us to reduce trade deficit to a great extent, and the heavy dependence on import of tuberous crop that can be easily grown in Sri Lanka.
Value addition of tuberous crops
Value addition of tuberous crops is an area that has been neglected in Sri Lanka. From time immemorial, Sri Lankans have preferred to consume tuberous crops in its raw form, by boiling them, and it may be one of the reasons the tuberous crop industry has not developed commercially. There are several projects that can be started at the plant level, if value addition takes place. By using wet milling cassava can be converted into flour which can be used as a food ingredient in cooking. Ethanol can be produced from cassava. Snack items such as chips could be produced from cassava. In China, noodles produced from sweet potatoes are a favorite dish. It is also of medicinal value for diabetic patients. Jam, sauce and pickles made from sweet potatoes have a substantial demand, which we have not explored into. Soup and porridge made using sweet potatoes are served in foreign countries. Sweets, desserts, fresh salads and curried dishes out of the leaf stem of certain tuberous crops are ideal for consumption. When we hear these innovative developments, we ought to be ashamed that we are still living in a primitive society. It is too far-fetched that our scientists have not been able to take advantage of tuberous crops that can be easily grown in Sri Lanka without much effort? Hence, PTF should give priority to the value addition aspect in its development drive, and provide incentives for product innovations. Food Science Departments of our Universities may have made substantial progress in this field and their co-operation with the PTF would be extremely vital for plantation crops.
The nation will look forward to the intervention of the PTF in the path towards economic revival and poverty eradication in the coming months, by adopting a more pragmatic and professional approach based on project breakthroughs. What is required at this juncture is the intervention on vital issues and not trivial matters. Bringing solutions to trivial issues at routine meetings has little or no impact on economic revival and poverty eradication.
The ball is now squarely in the court of the Chairman and the able lieutenants of the Presidential Task Force.
